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“Once upon a time you dressed so fine
you threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People call, say, beware doll, you’re bound to fall
you thought they were all kiddin’ you

You used to laugh about
everybody that was hangin’ out
now you don’t talk so loud
now you don’t seem so proud
about having to be scrounging for your next meal

How does it feel
how does it feel
to be without a home
like a complete unknown
like a rolling stone?

You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
but you know you only used to get juiced in it
and nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
and now you find out youre gonna have to get used to it
you said youd never compromise
with the mystery tramp, but now you realize
he’s not selling any alibis
as you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
and ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
how does it feel
to be on your own
with no direction home
like a complete unknown
like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see
the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
when they all come down and did tricks for you
you never understood that it ain’t no good
you shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
you used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
ain’t it hard when you discover that
he really wasn’t where its at
after he took from you everything he could steal

How does it feel
how does it feel
to be on your own
with no direction home
like a complete unknown
like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
they’re drinkin, thinkin’ that they got it made
exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
but you’d better lift your diamond ring
you’d better pawn it babe
you used to be so amused
at Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse
when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
you’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal

How does it feel
how does it feel
to be on your own
with no direction home
like a complete unknown
like a rolling stone?”

““Rolling stone”. A metaphor for something that is always moving or changing. This phrase has many connections to music: It’s the name of a magazine that focuses on pop culture and music, it’s the name of a band, and it’s a lyric in a song by Bob Dylan. These three things may be connected. A possible origin of this phrase is the old saying, “a rolling stone gathers no moss.”

“I read somewhere years ago that “Napoleon in rags” refered (specifically) to Andy Warhol and (more generally) the assorted Factory hangers-on. It was to do with the 60s art-house trappings of style triumphing over content and Warhol and his friends attempting to conscoiusly generate a subculture incorporating art (his own work), films (his own and his ‘in-house’ actors like edie sedgewick etc.) and music (Exploding Plastic Inevitable / Velvet Underground)”.

“Thank you, this was right on. With a bit more research I found out that not only does this lyric (and others in the song) refer to Warhol, but that the song in general is addressing Edie Sedgwick. Dylan & Sedgewick were involved, and he was criticizing her for being one of Warhol’s girls”.

“Dylan biographer Robert Shelton summed up the song’s meaning as: “A song that seems to hail the dropout life for those who can take it segues into compassion for those who have dropped out of bourgeois surroundings. ‘Rolling Stone’ is about the loss of innocence and the harshness of experience. Myths, props, and old beliefs fall away to reveal a very taxing reality.” In a humorous vein, Dylan commented on the moral perspective of “Like a Rolling Stone” at a press conference at KQED television studio on December 3, 1965. A reporter suggested to Dylan the song took a hard line on a girl, and asked “Do you want to change their lives? or do you want to point out to them the error of their ways?” Laughing, Dylan replied, “I want to needle them.”